Beautiful, Separate and Together
by fongstar5
Summary: Dominique Weasley comes from a huge family. The Weasley-Potter family is famous for their role in the defeat of Voldemort. How's a girl supposed to become independent when she's constantly compared to her large family? Uncle Harry helps her see that a large family isn't such a burden— in fact, it's beautiful. Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.


**Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling. **

**Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.**

**Team: Montrose Magpies**

**Position: Chaser 2 Family Role: Aunt/Uncle**

**Prompts: 2) (word) glitter, 3) (word) colorful, 4) (dialogue) "Don't tell me what to do!"**

* * *

The Weasley-Potter clan was a loud, boisterous, and close bunch.

The barbeques every Sunday and the weekly quidditch matches with enough to fill both teams are certainly proof of that. Sometimes family friends would come, and sometimes Dominique's mom and dad and aunt and uncle's coworkers would show up for a bit. But come Sunday, her entire family was at whoever's house was hosting that weekend— always.

And honestly, it was a little overwhelming.

Dominique Weasley has nine cousins, two siblings, and nine aunts and uncles.

She sees most of them at least once a day. The kids would often spend the day at their grandparent's house while the grownups were at work, or find themselves all in a skybox to watch Aunt Ginny's quidditch matches (they used to spend a lot of time at Uncle George's joke shop, but after an incident involving James, Fred II, Louis and several different products, they weren't allowed to be there all at the same time anymore).

Dominique was always surrounded by her cousins, and almost always compared to her older and perfect sister Victoire. So when she turned 11 and was off to Hogwarts, she was thrilled.

Soon, she would be off to the place she so often heard stories of— she'd see where her mom and dad met, and where here mom and Uncle Harry had faced dragons, and find all of the secret passageways her Uncle George swore nobody but him and her Uncle Fred had discovered. But most importantly, she would be on her own— independent, for the first time in her life. She would not be bunched together with the whole Weasley-Potter clan; no sir, she would finally get to be her own person.

So you can imagine her disappointment when she was sorted into Gryffindor (well, she certainly wasn't disappointed about _that_) and the first thing that came out of her classmate's mouth were questions about her family.

"Are you really related to Harry Potter?"

"Can you get a signature from Ginny Potter for me?"

"I read all about your family! You're related to The Golden Trio?"

Even some of her professors mentioned her family on the first day of class.

Headmistress McGonagall said something about quidditch coming naturally to her, if her family was any indication. Professor Flitwick said her Aunt Hermione was one of the brightest students— to date—that he had taught. Hagrid had told her that her Uncles George and Fred hold the record for most detentions received in a month.

So you can _also _imagine what kind of mood she was in when she headed to her first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Everyone else was practically running to the classroom, but Dominique lagged behind.

She paused for a second outside of the classroom and sighed. She took a deep breath and opened the door to see most of the class excitedly sitting in their seats, and she kept her head down and walked to the only open one in the very front of the class.

"Good afternoon, class," said the Professor.

Dominique looked up and was met with sparkling green eyes, and a smile she saw every Sunday, usually laughing while he played quidditch with her and her cousins.

"Good afternoon, Professor Potter," said the class.

"Can you believe it?" whispered her new friend Jonathan, leaning closer to her. "The Boy-Who-Lived, teaching us!"

Dominique sighed again and turned her attention back to her Uncle, who gave her a small smile before turning back to the rest of the class and starting his lecture. The majority of the first class involved him answering questions the students had, most of which were personal questions about him and how he defeated Voldemort.

Finally, class was over and Dominique rushed out after quickly waving to her Uncle Harry.

She and her friends reached the Great Hall for lunch and Dominique sat down in a huff. She felt someone sit next to her and looked to find her older sister looking at her.

"Is everything ok, Dominique?"

Dominique sighed. Her sister wouldn't understand; her sister was perfect. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You don't look fine…" said Victoire, piling food on her plate. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm fine!" said Dominique, a little sharper.

Victoire persisted though. Her older sister was always looking out for her— it was in her nature. "Are you sure? Maybe you should go see Madame Pomfrey. Or talk to Uncle Harry. You know, why don't we go talk to him and-"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Dominique said again sharply, instantly regretting it when she saw the look on her older sisters face. She didn't mean to snap at her, but she also couldn't help resent her sister a little bit.

Victoire was quiet for a couple of seconds. "I really think you should go talk to Uncle Harry. I think I know what's bothering you because it happening to me in first year. Now go," she said, waving her hands in a shooing motion. "Go bring him this sandwich and you two can eat in his classroom."

Dominique sighed again, but took the food her sister offered her. "I'm sorry, I love you," said Dominique, giving her sister a hug.

"I know," said Victoire, smiling. "I'll see you at dinner."

Dominique grabbed her bag and, armed with sandwiches, walked back to the DADA classroom and knocked on the door.

"Dominique?" said her Uncle Harry, opening the door. "Come in."

"Hi Uncle Harry," she said. "I brought you some lunch."

Harry smiled and took the offered sandwich. "How is your first day of classes going?" asked Harry, leaning against his desk.

Dominique didn't know how to answer. She was frustrated and upset— she thought when she went here she would be seen as Dominique, and not a Weasley.

"Dominique?" Harry asked, and she looked up to see a frown on his face.

She couldn't help it. Tears started to fall from her eyes.

Harry immediately wrapped his arms around her, giving her a hug. Dominique always felt safe in her Uncle Harry's arms— well really, any of her family members arms— and that made her feel even more guilty for the anger she felt towards her large family.

"Dominique?" asked Harry again. "What's wrong?"

Dominique took a step back and wiped her eyes. "It's just…"

"What is it? You know you can tell me anything," he said, patting a spot on his desk. She hopped up next to him.

Dominique took a deep breath. "It's just, since I've been here, everybody has been asking about you and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione and the rest of our family and everybody has been asking what it's like to be related to you guys and how great our family is and even the professors are always talking about how great you guys are and I think you guys are great and I love you but sometimes I just- I just- I feel like-"

"Like everybody is looking at you as a Weasley, and not as Dominique?" asked Harry softy.

Dominique looked up at him in surprise and nodded slightly.

"How did you…?"

Harry sighed.

"We have a large family," he said. "Also, your sister had the same problem when she first got here. She came and talked to me too."

He picked up a framed photo on his desk and showed it to her. It was a hand drawn picture, with enough stick figures for the entire family, and the family was surrounded by glitter everywhere. Underneath the glitter was written, 'Family Forever', and underneath had a hastily scribbled _James Sirius Potter_. "I'm going to tell you the same thing I told her." He pointed to the picture. "We have a large family," he repeated. "Larger than most. And I know sometimes you kids might feel like you're getting lost in the shuffle." He looked at her again. "And I also know how hard it is to stand out in our family."

Dominique gave a little sniffle and nodded. "It's just, sometimes I feel like nobody is looking at me. Everybody expects me to be so great like you and the rest of our family. What if I'm not?" She looked down at her shoes. "I thought coming here would make me my own person. I want to have an adventure, and meet new people, and I don't want to be judged by who my family is anymore."

"Dominique," she heard Harry say softly. She looked up and he placed the drawing of their family on her lap. "Look at this picture." She looked at it, noticing that James had labeled everybody. "You see all of this glitter?" he asked, pointing to the colors surrounding her family. "It's pretty, right?"

She nodded. The glitter really was beautiful. It sparkled as the light from the windows shone from next to them, and all of the colors looked like they swirled around, creating a shimmering effect. It was beautiful and colorful and it sparkled from every direction.

"Now look at it a little closer. The glitter is individual pieces. They each have their own color. Put together, they're beautiful. Now look at the edges, where some of glitter pieces sit on their own. Still pretty, right?"

She nodded again.

"You see? Both types of glitter are pretty. Do you see what I'm saying?"

"That…the glitter is pretty on its own, and pretty together?"

"Well yes, but also that together, the glitter completes the picture. Even though they're all colorful, together it makes one big picture. That's what it feels like with you kids. Together, you complete our family." He wrapped an arm around her. "I know it's hard to stand out. But you will find your own path, away from the legends surrounding our family. It might take some time, but either way, we are all always here for you. Just like the picture. We're all together forever, and there's certainly room for you to be on your own at the same time."

Harry stood up, and Dominique followed. He kneeled down and looked her in the eyes. "You will have some of the best years of your life here, Dominique. I know it's hard right now, and there will be more times in the future where you feel like having a large family is a burden, but just remember-"

"-that our family is like glitter?" she asked, grinning. She couldn't help it. Her Uncle Harry was so nice and cheesy at the same time. The whole concept had sounded silly at first, but she understood what he was trying to say.

Harry grinned back at her and gave her a wink. "Exactly. Now how about we finish these sandwiches in the Great Hall. I think I'll fancy myself a slice of Treacle Tart. Just don't tell your Aunt Ginny."

Dominique felt loads better after talking to her Uncle Harry, and the two walked back to the Great Hall, a smile on her face laughing at her Uncle Harry's bad jokes. Her new friends all greeted her, and she hugged her sister and gave her a little nod before sitting back down.

She was enjoying a piece of treacle tart when somebody asked her about her family again, or more specifically, if she was "really related to Ginny Potter of the Holyhead Harpies?" She looked up and saw her Uncle Harry laughing at something Professor Longbottom was saying, and then turned to her classmates and found her face stretching into a large smile before responding with a proud, "Yes."

The Weasley-Potter clan was a loud, boisterous and close bunch. Dominique Weasley had nine cousins, two siblings, and nine aunts and uncles.

If you asked her who her favorite is (and nobody ever did, which she was secretly thankful for because honestly, some of her family members were a tad sensitive), she would tell them it was Uncle Harry. Because he was the one who made her see that her family may be messy at times, and a little overwhelming, but beautiful, separate and together— just like glitter.

So when her cousin Rose started Hogwarts a few years later and she had a similar breakdown her first week of class, Dominique took her to Uncle Harry's classroom and showed her the picture that was on his desk, and proceeded to tell her all about glitter.


End file.
